Dispensing and display cabinet



April '14-, 1936. 5 H L 2,037,576

DISPENSING AND DISPLAY CABINET Filed April 1, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l lllllmi liiw" M/jf |u||||||||||||| 5 INVENTOR [I v alumn I April 14, 1936. -r HANDEL 2,037,576

DISPENSING AND DISPLAY CABINET Filed April 1, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 llymo: BY M I TTORNEY Patented Apr. 14, 1936 2,037,576

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISPENSING AND DISPLAY CABINET Stanley T. Handel, New York, N. Y., assigncr to Eberhard Faber Pencil Company, a corporation of New York Application April 1, 1935, Serial No. 14,028

2 Claims. (Cl. 31242) This invention relates to cabinets for storing bottom walls I and 2, side walls 3, and a front and dispensing packages or articles, for example, Wall 4. The other or rear side of the compartsmall metal, wood or cardboard boxes containing ment is open for insertion and removal of the leads for mechanical pencils, a prime object of storage units or articles into and from the cabi- 5 the invention being to provide a cabinet of this net. I

character embodying novel and improved fea- The cabinet is especially designed for use with tures of construction whereby the packages can a plurality of storage units C in which are arbe arranged in the cabinet so as to efficiently ranged in stacked relation a plurality of packages utilize the space in the cabinet and thereby per- 'D each of which may contain a plurality of 1.0 mit amaximum number of packages to be stored articles such as leads for mechanical pencils.

in the cabinet, and at the same time permit easy The storage units C are shown as rectangular access to the packages for individual removal in shape and of a width and thickness correthereof quickly by hand without disturbance or sponding to the length and width of the packrearrangement of the packages. ages D, while the length of the units is such as Other objects are to provide such a cabinet to receive a plurality of the packages in stacked which shall embody a novel construction includrelation. As shown, the units are generally fiat, ing a plurality of removable storage units to conthat is, their thickness is much less than their tain stacks of articles or packages to be dispensed width and length. Preferably, the storage units and each preferably having a discharge opening are identical in size, and each has a discharge for individual removal of the articles or packopening 5 at one corner through which one of =20 ages, said units being arranged in close and stagthe packages D is exposed and may be removed. gered or offset relation. to each other without the The storage units C are arranged in the comuse of partitions and so that the various units or partment B in substantially abutting side-by-side packages exposed through said discharge openrelation and edgewise with respect to the plane of ings can be grasped easily and quickly selectively the open end of the compartment, and alternate '25 and separately by the fingers of the store-keeper units are offset from adjacent units vertically for removal of the desired packages from the with respect to the bottom of the compartment cabinet; to provide such a cabinet which shall and horizontally relatively to the plane of said be simple and inexpensive; and to obtain other open side of the compartment or in general plane advantages and results as will be brought out of the unit which is also parallel to the con- 30 by the following description. tiguous sides of the adjacent units, and the dis- Referring to the accompanying drawings in charge openings 5 of the units are arranged at which corresponding and like parts are desigthe bottom of the compartment B and facing the nated throughout the several views by the same open side thereof. In this way, the packages reference characters, in the various storage units are exposed through 35 Figure 1 is a perspective view partially in the discharge openings 5 of the respective storage transverse vertical section of a cabinet embodying units at the open side of the compartment B and my invention, viewing the same from the rear. the opposite sides of the lower-most package are Figure 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view freely accessible to be gripped by the fingers and on the line 2-2 of Figure 3. permit the packages to be pulled from the dis- 40 Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the charge openings for dispensing. line 3-3 of Figure 2. The storage units 0 next adjacent the sides Figure 4 is a detached perspective View of one 3 of the compartment are spaced from said of the containers for the individual packages. sides by spacer blocks 6 secured to the sides, Figures 5 and 6 are horizontal sectional views while alternate units are spaced from the top and 45 on the lines 5-5 and 66 respectively of Figbottom I and 2 respectively of the compartment ure 4, and by spacer blocks 1. Similarly alternate units Figure '7 is a detached perspective view of one C are spaced from the front side 4 of the cabinet of the spacer blocks. by spacer blocks 8. The spacer blocks 1 are of Specifically describing the illustrated embodia width corresponding to the thickness of the 50 ment of the invention, the reference character A storage units C and of a thickness sufficient to designates the body of the cabinet which has a vertically offset the units to permit free access to rectangular compartment B to receive the storage the packages in the discharge openings 5. The

' units, packages or articles to be dispensed. This spacer blocks 8 are of a width corresponding to compartment is shown as formed with top and the thickness of the storage units and of a thick- 55 ness to horizontally ofiset the units sufliciently to permit access to the packages. Also, it will be observed that each two adjacent spacer blocks I at the top and bottom of the compartment are spaced apart distances equal to the thickness of a unit C to receive a unit between them, and serve in conjunction with one spacer block 1, at the bottom and top respectively to form slide ways for the units C.

With such a construction, no partitions are required between the storage units, and consequently the storage space in the compartment may be efilciently utilized and the structure of the cabinet is simple. For holding the storage units in position, a keeper wire 9 may be separably secured to the blocks 6 and abuttingly engage the spacer units.

The packages or articles D will automatically fall by gravity in the storage units C so that as one package is removed, as shown at E, another package will descend into position to be removed from the discharge opening of the unit. The packages of the respective units can be selectively and individually manually removed without disturbing or rearranging any of the units or other packages, and the packages will be kept in orderly and easily accessible condition.

Preferably the storage units C serve as cartons or containers for packing and transportation of the packages D, and may be of folded cardboard construction as shown in Figure 4, although obviously the form of the storage units may be varied as desired. Also, other means may be utilized for maintaining the packages in stacked relation. The front wall 4 of the cabinet as well as the other walls may be suitably ornamented or contain advertising matter relating to the contents of the packages D, and if desired, a utility drawer H3 may be mounted at the top of the cabinet.

Other modifications and details of structure of the cabinet will be evident to those skilled in the art, and therefore I do not desire to be understood as limiting myself to the construction and use of the invention except as may be required by the following claims when construed in the light of the prior art.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A cabinet having a cubicle compartment formed with top, bottom, sides and one end wall, the other end being open, said cabinet being adapted to receive a plurality of identical rectangular storage units to contain articles to be dispensed, said units to be arranged in said compartment in abutting side-by-side relation and each of said units having a discharge opening at one corner to be disposed adjacent the bottom of the compartment and facing said open end and through which said articles are exposed and may be removed, spacer members on the sides of said compartment, spacer blocks on the top and bottom of said compartment in staggered relation spaced apart between said sides distances equal to the thickness of a unit and each of a width equal to the thickness of a unit and located to abut one end of a unit, and each two thereof to receive one unit between them, and other spacer blocks on the end of said compartment each in a common plane with one of the blocks on the bottom of the compartment, all of saidspacer blocks being of a thickness sufiicient to offset the respective storage units vertically and horizontally with respect to adjacent units in planes parallel to the planes of the contiguous sides of the units to permit said articles exposed through said discharge openings to be manually gripped selectively and separately for removal.

2. A cabinet of the character described having a rectangular compartment having an opening at one side Whose plane is vertical, said compartment being adapted to receive a plurality of stacks of rectangular articles of the same size arranged in said compartment in close substantially abutting side-by-side relation, and means on the bottom and the wall of said compartment opposite said open side for locating said stacks with alternate stacks ofiset horizontally from adjacent stacks relatively to the plane of said open side and vertically with respect to the bottom of the compartment to permit said articles at the bottoms of the stacks to be freely gripped for removal of the articles.

STANLEY T. HANDEL. 

